. >>> talks between the white house and republicans over the fiscal cliff have ran to something of a holt. john boehner dealing with division in the gop's ranks to his bung budget plan. another shanghai surprise. china's mainland market surge nearly 3%. more austerity. plus, austerity measures are hitting european consumers. retail sales in october fall much more than expected. september also revised sharply to the downside. >>> it was a flat day really for european stocks, slightly negative for u.s. stocks yesterday. we are a little bit higher. the dow is currently some 43 points above fair value. the nasdaq is around four points above fair value. the s&p 500 at the moment is around about four points above fair value. european stocks are up half a percent earlier. we have come off those highs. eurozone pmis a little bit better than expected. but still deeply in contraction territory. uk services pmis dipped weaker than expected. the ftse up a quarter a percent. the ibex up around .2. also dragged down by disappointing retail sales. that's where we stand right now ahead of the u.s. o